Page 93 - TEARS OF SUFFERING

TEARS OF SUFFERING

When the living room was silent, Ugyen groped for the
bedroom and peeped through an aperture. The room was
lit up with a candle. Tshoden nestled in Ugyen’s arms.
When Samphel drew her to his chest, she smiled like a
vamp. Samphel kissed her on her cheeks. They whispered
and broke into soft giggles. They seemed to float on
cloud nine. His young-but-shriveled heart broke asunder.

For a moment of the flickering candle, Ugyen fantasized
Tshoden in his arms, pecking on her nose and rosy
cheeks, but when he realized it was mere make-believe,
he leaned on the floor and hid his face in his coarse
palms. Try as he might, he trembled through the entire
body in the efforts to control the throbs. The harder he
tried, the bitterer he felt; he kneeled and sniffled
fervently.

Wiping the tears, he plodded back to the kitchen. He did
the dishes and cleaned the kitchen, but could not divert
his mind from Tshoden. He stopped what he was doing
and thought for a long time. That wouldn’t help him, so
he sat in a corner and wept through further agony.

As he went through the hardest moment of his life, Au
Lham watched him in pity. She pulled him up and
lovingly stroked his hair. “I am sorry for being helpless.”

Her consolatory touch made him want to cry more. He
hid his face in his coarse palms and sniffled.

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